The warhead of an Iranian missile hit a site just several dozen meters from the Old City of Jerusalem, and just several hundred meters from the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, during the course of Saturday, police announced on Sunday.
According to police, an explosion was heard and smoke was seen rising from a site just west of the Old City on Saturday morning, shortly after the beginning of the latest armed conflict with Iran.
The impact site appears to have been the Sultan’s Pool outdoor events venue, which lies just a few dozen meters to the west of the Old City and just under a kilometer west of the Temple Mount, as the crow flies.
Police and sappers conducted searches of the area and found the warhead from an Iranian ballistic missile, along with “incendiary and explosive materials” scattered nearby, the police said.
The warhead was then neutralized by sappers from the police’s Jerusalem District.
From video footage sent by the police, it appears that the missile did not strike the site directly, but may instead have first been intercepted by Israel’s missile defense systems, with fragments from the projectile then falling to earth.
The police did not respond to questions regarding the nature of the impact.
The Old City of Jerusalem includes some of the most important holy sites in the world, including the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, the holiest sites in the world for Jews; as well as the al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam; and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed by Christians to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus.
“Yesterday, we received further proof that from the enemy’s perspective, all targets are legitimate, and if that warhead had deviated by a few hundred meters, it is very possible that a very serious hit would have occurred, especially if one of the holy places had been hit while it was full of worshipers and visitors,” said police commander Dvir Tamir in a statement on the incident.
